Lighting fixture



June 20, 1939. A, L ARENBERG i 2,163,225

` LIGHTING FIXTURE`l Original Filed July 20, 1936 3 Sheets-Sheet l ATTORNEY. A

A. L. ARENBERG June 20, 1939.

LIGHTING FIXTURE Original Filed July 20. 1936 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 A TTQRNEY.

Patented June 20, 1939 UNITED sTATEs PATENT oFFicE Albert L. Arenberg, Highland Park, Ill., assignor to Patent License Corporation, Chicago, Ill., a

corporation of Illinois Original application July 20, 1936, Serial No. 91,493. Divided and this application January 2 Claims.

This invention has to do with lighting fixtures for railway cars and other passenger vehicles, and is particularly concerned with lighting fixtures of the type adapted to extend continuously along both sides of the ceiling of a car above the seats.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide an improved lighting fixture in which a row of transversely disposed Slat-like louyers are utilized to produce an effective distribution of light.

` Another object of the invention is to provide in `such a fixture an arrangement of the lamp bulbs which will furnish direct illumination for the reading areas at the seats and indirect illumination for the aisle between the rows of seats, all without any glare to the passengers either when sitting or standing and without the formation of any noticeable shadows. Another object is to provide a strong, light, Y compact and inexpensive fixture, which is easy to open up for cleaning and renewal of the lamps, and which adds materially to the appearance of vthe interior of the car.

While the new fixture will ordinarily be made up so as to extend without interruption from substantially one end of the car to the other, it may of course be constructed in shorter longitudinal separated sections if desired.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art upon a full understanding of the construction and arrangement of the parts of which the fixture is composed.

This application is a division of my copending application, Serial No. 91,493, filed July 20, 1936, which has matured into Patent No. 2,105,447.

A preferred embodiment of the invention and four modifications thereof are presented herein for the purpose of exemplification, but it will'y of course be appreciated that the invention is capa- 40 ble of being incorporated in still other structurally modified forms coming equally within the spirit of the invention and the scope of the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. l is a perspective view of one end of the new fixture;

Fig` 2 is a vertical transverse section through the fixture, taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of a portion of the fixture, looking upwardly at the under side of the same;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of one of theremovable louver sections;

Fig. 5 `is a fragmentary section through one side ofa modified form of the fixture;

1o, 193s, serial No. 184,161

l (ci. 24o-7.35)

Fig. 6 is a similar section, showing another modified form; i

Fig. 7 shows another modification; and

Fig- 8 shows still another modification.

The new fixture is particularly well suited for,

\` application to a streamlined railway car. In the "car structure shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings the raised .deck portion I0 of the ceiling of the car is prathzally as wide as the car 'and terminates but a shortdistance from the side Il. A recess I2 is provided in the ceiling near the side for the recep-- tion of thelighting fixture, and from this recess the ceiling curves upwardly to the center of the top of the car above the aisle between the seats.

The lighting fixture includes a downwardly opening trough which is characterized by a reflector I3 and a face plate I4. The reflector is located along one side only of the trough and is curved transversely through lapproximately a quarter of a circle, with its upper edge attached 20 to the ceiling where the latter starts upwardly and with its lower edge attached to a channel member I5. The faceplate Il is located along the aisle side of the trough, opposite the reflector, with the upper edge of the face plate spaced horizontally from the upper edge of the reiiector so as to leave an opening I6 in the top of the trough, 'and with the lower edge of the face plate set inwardly somewhat with respect to the upper edge. The lower edge of the face plate is turned inwardly 0 and upwardly to form a small ledge I1, and this ledge, together with the flange I8 lwhich extends inwardly from the face plate, forms a channel `member in opposition to the channel member I5.`

The reiiector I3 and the face plate I4 are sup- 35 ported on transverse brackets 20 which are located at regular intervals longitudinally of the fixture. These brackets follow the contour of the reflector from the channel member I5 to the upper edge of the reflector and then dip downwardly and extend across to the face plate I4 over the top of the flange I8 and upwardly against the insidefof the face plate, the reflector and face plate being secured to the brackets at suitable points by means of screws.

Lamp bulbs 2| are positioned in the trough between the brackets 20. The bulbs project into the trough through openings v22 in the reflector I3 and are mounted in sockets 23 which are supported in adapters 24 secured to the back of the reflector. The wiring 25 for the sockets is located in the recess I2 behind the reflector.

The lower open face of the trough is spanned by a large number of closely arranged louver strips 26 which are disposed in planes at right 55 angles to the axis of the trough. These louver strips are removable except for single louver strips 21 which are located directly below the brackets 20. The single strips 2'I are stationary and the ends of the same are secured in the channel members I5 and I9. The removable strips 29 between the stationary strips are grouped into rigid grid-like sections '29, with the ends of the strips in each of the sections attached to longitudinally extending bars 29 and 90. All of the strips preferably have their ends atv the face plate flared, so that the ends of the slots between the strips are rounded. 'Ihis not only enhances the appearance of the fixture as a wholel but greatly facilitates cleaning.

The louver sections 28 fit snugly between the single separating louver strips 2`I,v and all of the strips are so uniformly spaced and matched as to make the strips in the removable sections I practically indistinguishable from the stationary strips on casual inspection. 'Ihe connecting bars 29 and 30 for the strips in the removable sections t respectively into the channel members I5 and I9 and are held down against the lower flanges of the channel members by means of leaf springs 3l on the upper edges of the bars, which springs bear against the vupper' flanges of the channel members.

To remove any of the louver sections from the trough, it is merely necessary to'raise one side of the section far enough against the yielding resistance of the springs at that side to allow a groove 92 in the bar 29 to clear the'edge of the lower flange of the channel member Il, whereupon the raised edge of the section can be shifted far enough into the channelmember to allow the opposite edge of the section to clear the channel member I9. As soon as this has been done the louver section can be slipped out without any difficulty. To replace the section, this procedure is of course reversed. The position of `thesection when being removed or replaced is shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2.

The ends of the louver strips nearest the side II of the car are preferably reduced in vertical extent by having their lower edges curved upwardly at 99, whereby to prevent the formation oi' any noticeable shadows on the side of the car.

The arrangement of the reflector I9, face plate I4, opening I9 and louver strips 29 with respect to the lamp bulbs 2l is such as to produce an effective distribution oi' light. The seats along the side of the car beneath the lighting xture and the reading areas about the seats receive direct illumination from the bulbs through the louver strips, which strips prevent any glare from the bulbs by shielding the latter from sight in the normal range of vision of a person looking lengthwise of the car. The face plate I4 similarly prevents any glare from the bulbs in the eyes of a person seated across the aisle or walking through the aisle. The bulbs project toward the face plate just far enoughto illuminate the ceiling of the car'through the gap I9, which results in indirect illumination of the aisle. The narrowed end portions 99 of the louver strips permit direct illumination of the side of the car without allowing the louver strips to cast'any noticeablepshadows thereon, but if such illuminationl is not desired these end portions of the strips can of course be easily blanked off by means of a longitudinally extending baille strip of any suitable description. The upper portion of the inner surface of the face plate I4 serves as a reflector for increasing the illumination of the ceiling immediately adjacent the fixture. The reflector I9 of course serves to direct the light rays from the bulbs both downwardly and outwardly at an angle, whereby to provide a rather wide distribution of the direct lighting from the side of the car right up to the usual .location of the center aisle.

In the modification which is shown in Fig. 5 a small longitudinally extending baille plate 94 is positioned below the face plate I4 in spaced relation to the lower edge of the latter. This baille plate is curved transversely and its concave upper surface 35 acts as a reflector for indirectly illuminating the ornamented outer surface of the face plate and the ceiling from the lamp bulbs in back of the face plate.

In the modification which is shown in Pig. 6 the face plate 99 is somewhat different in construction and function. It is not spaced from the reflector 91 at its upper edge but is arranged in a vertical position and is provided in its' upper portion with a panel 99 of translucent material, through which panel the ceiling of the car is softly illuminated. In this particular fixture the reflector I1 curves downwardly at I9 on the aisle side of the lamp bulbs 49, whereby to rather strongly illuminate the upper portion oi' the side of the car. This feature is especially advantageous if the lighting fixture is used in a street car where advertising matter is ordinarily displayed at the side of the car close to the ceiling. In this modification the louver sections. instead of being bodily removable, are hinged at 4I to one edge of the trough and the opposite sides of the sections are removably held in position by let screws 42 or by any other suitable means.

In the modification which is shown in Fig. '7 the face plate. 49 extends up to the side of the ceiling 44, without any spacing therebetween and without the addition of any glass panel. The

- outer surface of the panel 49 is indirectly illurninated by means of a baille plate 45 which is spaced from the face plate and forms a shield over openings 49 in the face plate. Through' these openings light rays from the bulbs behind the face plate reflect against the rear surface of the baille plate 49 and illuminate the upper and lower portions of the front surface of the face plate.

In the modification which is shown in Fig. 8 the louver construction is different. All of the vlouvers are sheet metal stampings 41 which are secured together in spaced relation on tie rods 49 and 49. 'I'he louvers with their tie rods are grouped into longitudinally abutting units, and each of the units is held up in position against the bottom of the light trough 59 by means of hanger bolts. II which screw into cross members 52. The ends of the louvers at the aisle side of the fixture are capped by a sheet metal face plate 53, which plate hooks over the ends of the louvers in a groove 54 formed in the latter and is held in position' by tongues Il which extend inwardly at intervals to the tie rod 49. The upper edge of the face plate 59 is preferably spaced from the adia' cent portion I6 f the ceiling, whereby to permit light rays from the lamp bulbs to be reflected against the inside surface of the face plate onto the ceiling.

I claim:

1. In a lighting fixture, a trough characterized by-a transversely curved reflector, a plurality of brackets, and a face plate supported by the brackets along one side of the reflector, lamp bulbs in the trough between the brackets, and closely spaced louver strips which extend across the open spasms face oi' the trough from the face plate in planes at right angles to the-axis ofthe trough, said louver, strips being detachably secured' to the trough in groups of severaly which are removable as units without disturbing the face plate.

2. In a lighting nxture, a trough for application to the ceiling oi' a railway c ar or other passenger vehicle at one side oi the center aisle' above the seats at that side, said trush being characterized by a transversely curved downwardly and lat erally directed reflector, a plurality oi brackets, and a face plate supported by the brackets along the aisle side of the reflector. lamp bulbs in the trough between the brackets, and closely spaced louver strips which extend across the open i'ace of the trough from the face plate in planes 'at right angles to the axis of the trough. vsaid -face plate being spaced by the brackets from the adjacent edge of the reilector, said louver strips 'being removable without disturbing the face plate to aord access to the bulbs from below the ilxture.A

and said bulbs being so located as to cast light rays downwardly; through the louvers onto the seat areas and upwardly through the gap between the tace plate and the'rellector onto the ceiling above the aisle. f'-

ALBERT L. 

